漢字Kanji · in Animals & Wildlife
馬: horse
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Western Zhou Small seal · Qin Today
Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Three readings, and the words that use each
バba · on'yomi · in compounds
- 馬車ばしゃhorse-drawn vehicle
- 馬力ばりきhorse-power, h.p.
- 乗馬じょうばhorseback riding
- 競馬けいばhorse racing
- 馬鹿なばかなstupid, silly
- 竹馬の友ちくばのともchildhood friend
- 出馬するしゅつばするstand as a candidate
- 落馬するらくばするfall from a horse
マma · on'yomi
- 絵馬えまvotive picture
うまuma · kun'yomi · on its own
- 馬うまhorse
Also read メ, ボ, モ, ま, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Pictogram (象形)
A horse with its head facing the left, showing a flowing mane in the wind, standing vertically on two legs. In the bronze inscriptions, the head was often simplified into an eye (目).
Source: Wiktionary, 馬 (rev. 93388368), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Gallop ahead! Imagine a spirited stallion charging across a field, its mane flying in the wind.”
Connections
Also read バ
2 kanji share this on'yomiAlso read ボ
7 kanji share this on'yomiAlso read モ
3 kanji share this on'yomiIn ChineseSimplified 马 · traditional, as in Japanese · mǎ
Japan keeps the traditional form 馬; mainland China simplifies it to 马.
- Simplified
- 马 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 馬 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin mǎ most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.